How to make the most of your M365

A lot of organisations do not realise they are only using a small part of the Microsoft 365 licensing they already pay for. This is rarely because they do not care. More often, it is because Microsoft licensing bundles are large and it is not always obvious what is included. This is especially true with Microsoft Business Premium. It is one of the most misunderstood licences and also one of the most powerful when it is used properly.

If you want to get more value from the tools you already own, here are some genuinely useful capabilities that are often overlooked.

Microsoft Business Premium is more than just Office apps

Business Premium is designed for organisations with up to 300 users and, in many cases, it offers everything a small or mid sized business needs without moving to enterprise licensing. Alongside the Office apps, Business Premium includes Intune for device management, Conditional Access, Microsoft Defender for Business, and a growing number of Purview features. When configured correctly, this can remove the need for separate device management, antivirus, and basic security tools. In practice, this often means organisations can retire multiple overlapping products and reduce annual licensing costs by thousands of pounds. This is something we regularly see during licensing reviews, where businesses discover they are paying twice for capabilities they already own within Microsoft 365. Business Premium also has access to Copilot options, allowing smaller businesses to adopt AI tooling without stepping into full enterprise licences.

You probably already have device management 

If you are licensed for Business Premium, E3, or E5, you already have Intune.

This allows you to manage laptops and mobiles, enforce security baselines, control access to company data, and remotely wipe devices if they are lost or stolen. Many organisations continue paying for third party mobile device management tools simply because they are not aware this capability is already included in their Microsoft licence. 

Built in security often replaces paid bolt ons

Business Premium includes Microsoft Defender for Business, which provides endpoint protection, attack surface reduction, and threat detection. E3 and E5 expand this further, with E5 offering full Defender for Endpoint and advanced threat hunting. It is common to see organisations paying for standalone antivirus, endpoint protection, or email security tools while only using a fraction of what Microsoft Defender already provides. Fully enabling these built in protections can improve security posture while also reducing overall spend on separate security products.

You can protect data automatically

Sensitivity Labels and core Purview capabilities are included with Business Premium, with more advanced features available in E3 and E5.

These tools help prevent accidental data sharing, apply encryption automatically, and give better visibility into where sensitive information lives.

Once set up, they work quietly in the background and significantly reduce the risk of human error without disrupting day to day work.

Enterprise licensing makes sense at scale

As a general rule of thumb, Business Premium works well for organisations up to 300 users. E3 and E5 are typically a better fit for larger enterprises or those with more complex regulatory and security requirements.

E5 in particular is often purchased for a single feature, but it actually includes identity protection, endpoint detection and response, app governance, insider risk management, and advanced reporting.

In larger environments, consolidating these capabilities into E5 can replace multiple standalone security products and simplify both management and cost reporting.

So how do you make sure you are getting value from your licence?

• Start by listing what you are licensed for and compare it with what is actually enabled today. This step alone often highlights unused features that could deliver immediate benefit.

• Focus first on the high‑impact areas. Device management, security, and access controls usually provide the biggest return with the least disruption

Remember that the goal is not to use every feature Microsoft provides. The goal is to stop missing the ones that would make your environment more secure, easier to manage, and more cost‑effective.

Most organisations already own more capability than they realise. Unlocking value is rarely about buying new tools; it is about making better use of the ones you already have.

If you want help understanding what you are licensed for, or would like a simple licensing health check, feel free to reach out.

If you’d like a better understanding of your M365 licensing, book a free 15 minute consultation with our team.

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